


cold snap

by wordbending



Series: The Search for the Six Souls [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Ensemble Cast, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Minor Sans/Toriel (Undertale), Mostly Fluff, Multi, Non-Verbal Frisk (Undertale), Other, POV Second Person, Selectively Mute Frisk (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 12:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17898464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordbending/pseuds/wordbending
Summary: The last thing you're expecting when you wake up this morning, miles away from home, issnow. It makes you giddy. You're so eager to share it with your weird, huge family, and it means so many things - snowball fights! Hot chocolate! A nice, warm bath with your best friends/maybe-more-than-friends!It's just too bad Asriel is... well, how Asriel always is these days: a bit of a pain in the ass.





	cold snap

**Author's Note:**

> A sequel to [obligatory beach episode](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16099169)!
> 
> Content warnings for attempted murder and strangulation and Asriel having severe PTSD and violent outbursts from his time as Flowey. Don't worry, though - this fic is at least 90% fluff.

You start the morning in a big (and fluffy) cuddle pile, sandwiched between two bodies. One is Asriel’s, whose body is so much fluff that you don’t even notice that it’s a little bit colder in the room than usual. The other is Frisk’s, whose body (oversized pajamas and all) is comfortably warm in comparison to yours. Alphys may have finally given your robot body an experimental fleshy epidermis, or in layman’s terms, “skin,” but it still runs over twenty degrees colder than an actual human body.

You start the morning as you always do, at least when Frisk doesn’t wake up before you. First, you kiss Asriel on his forehead. Asriel sleeps like a log. Then you roll over and kiss Frisk on their forehead. Frisk is always just awake enough that a smile comes to their face, a blush to their dark brown cheeks.

Then you get up and carefully climb out of your futon, trying to avoid waking up Frisk any further and trying not to wake up Asriel either. That boy sleeps all day, but he deserves the rest. Besides, you usually sleep all day too - at least, once you’ve had breakfast.

You look around the room and notice something strange. It’s what’s outside the window. It’s a dark, cloudy day, but that’s not what’s most readily apparent.

What’s most readily apparent is the _snow._

You immediately race over to the windows to check that you’re not dreaming, but there’s no doubt. Snowflakes are gently falling to the ground, the windows are covered in frost, and the traditional Japanese-style garden outside is blanketed in over a foot of snow. It must have been snowing all night… and it shows no signs of letting up.

 _Snow!_ you think, giddy. How many years has it been you’ve seen snow? Even before your revival, your neighborhood barely got any snow, and it was hardly a joyous occasion - it just meant you were even colder and more miserable than normal.

You don’t even care about not wanting to wake up Frisk and Asriel anymore. You rush back over to the futon and scream “GET UP!”

Frisk jumps up with a start, alarmed, and you feel bad, even though you’re not sure what you were expecting. Asriel still does not wake up, to your annoyance, so you decide to kick him in the shin. You don’t really feel bad about that.

“Ow!” he says. “What the hell?”

“Watch your language,” you say, smiling. “Come here and look outside.”

Frisk takes a look out at the window. The very instant they do, they throw the blanket off themself and run towards it, as if to check that _they’re_ not dreaming.

When they turn back around to look at you, you don’t think you’ve ever seen them so excited, so _happy._ They’re grinning at you, and you might even be grinning a little bit back, just to try it out.

 _Snow!_ they sign.

“What’s so exciting about snow?” says Asriel, yawning. “Snowdin was always snowing.”

Ugh, you think. He’s such a jackass in the morning.

“Not your weird fake snow,” you say. “This is _real_ snow.”

“What’s the difference?”

“That instead of being _literally_ magical, it’s _metaphorically_ magical,” you say. “Obviously. Now get out of bed before I make you.”

 _Be nice,_ Frisk signs at you.

“Ugh, fine,” you say, rolling your eyes.

“Ugh, fine,” says Asriel. He stretches, unnecessarily considering his body doesn’t have actual musculature, and stands up. You jut out your hand towards his and he reaches out a paw and takes it firmly.

The two of you walk over to join Frisk by the window, and you take Frisk’s hand as soon as you’re close enough. Frisk doesn’t shy away from your touch, like they used to just a scant year ago, when you had to ask permission to do just about anything with them.

You watch Frisk as they sign the word for _pretty._

“It is, isn’t it?” you say, feeling irrationally smug, as if you were the one who caused it to snow.

“I guess,” says Asriel.

You’re about to protest, which isn’t really fair of you because it’s not Asriel’s fault he can’t appreciate things like he used to. It’s not Asriel’s fault that his soul is artificial and incomplete, that he doesn’t get excited about things like real snow the way you know he would have when you were younger.

You’re stopped when Frisk lets go of your hand to sign. _I meant you._ They point directly at you when they sign “you,” and then put their hand back in yours.

You feel your cheeks grow warm and you shoot Frisk a puzzled smile. “Flirting, huh? At a time like this?”

“You _are_ pretty,” says Asriel softly, smiling just as softly, and your cheeks get warmer still. He squeezes your hand.

“Ugh!” you say in an exaggerated huff. “You two are _impossible.”_

But you squeeze both his paw and their hand, to show you don’t mean it, that you appreciate it.

Behind the three of you, the sliding door to the room opens. You all turn around and see Toriel, in a padded kimono. She shivers, her breath frosting in the air - it must be extremely cold, you think, if even _Toriel_ is freezing.

Behind her is Monster Kid, still in their pajamas. They grin at the three of you.

“My children,” she says, smiling. “I see you are already awake. It is time for breakfast.”

“Time to eat, yo!” says Monster Kid. “Hurry up!”

“No need to rush me,” you say, patting your stomach. Ever since Alphys upgraded you and Asriel with the ability to eat food, you’re eager to make use of it whenever you can. “I’m starving.”

“Do they have pancakes?” Asriel asks, his tail wagging. At least he still gets excited for _food._

“Why, yes,” says Toriel as Asriel steps away from the windows and runs up to her. “They have okonomiyaki.”

Toriel pets his head as you and Frisk walk, hand-in-hand, to go get your breakfast, Monster Kid rushing off in front of you.

* * *

After you’ve had a delicious traditional breakfast of miso and tamago gohan, Asriel has had a stack of okonomiyaki as tall as he is, and Frisk has had their usual (sugary American cereal they’ve somehow procured), you decide it’s time to take your huge, weird adopted family out to see the snow.

You’ve been waiting for this day ever since you were revived - the only thing you’re more excited to show them is a meteor shower.

Of course, Toriel isn’t going to let you (or anyone else) just go outside in the snow in pajamas. So she makes sure you, Asriel, Frisk, and Monster Kid are all dressed in several layers of coats, jackets, scarves, and mittens. It’s as if you’re going to be climbing Mount Yotei already, except you’re not, because all you’re doing is going outside.

But, soon enough, you’re fully dressed and then some, and it’s time to go. You, of course, are more than ready to present the snow to everyone, with as much pomp and circumstance as the event requires.

You stand in front of the sliding door leading outside, Frisk standing behind you, ready to push the door open when you give the signal.

“Behold…” you say, which is the signal. Frisk slides open the door, sending a blast of cold wind and snow through the ryokan. “A true winter wonderland!”

Everyone stares at the snow outside as you stand there proudly.

“Yes, it is indeed… snow,” says Asgore.

“WELL!” says Papyrus cheerfully. “IT _IS_ VERY NICE SNOW!”

“U-um,” says Alphys. “There was… there was already snow in Snowdin, s-so…”

“I KNOW! I PRACTICALLY LIVED THERE!”

“You… you _did_ live there.”

Your smile twitches just a little. Unappreciative philistines! Didn’t they understand the difference between Snowdin’s snow, made of the magic charge that runs throughout the Underground, and the actual snow, created by actual weather and climate patterns, that was in front of them?

Just as you’re about to express your annoyance, someone runs right past you. It takes you a moment to realize that it’s Undyne, who is already trudging through snow up to her knees.

“This is freaking _awesome!”_ she shouts. “Alphy, get your butt out here!”

“O-OK!” shouts Alphys, slowly walking past you.

“WAIT! I WISH FOR WINTER MERRIMENT AS WELL!” says Papyrus, excitedly racing past her.

Next to rush past you is Monster Kid, leaving Toriel’s side with an excited “Yo!” You watch as they run out into the snow and immediately trip, landing face-first with a heavy _whump_ , before immediately picking themselves up and shaking themselves off like a dog.

“Goodness!” says Toriel, going out to join them. “Be careful, my child! We do not wish for you to catch a cold!”

Next is Sans, who hasn’t moved an inch.

You smile a wide, sardonic smile at him. “What’s the matter? Your girlfriend just left, you know.”

Asgore looks despondent at the word “girlfriend.” Sans only shrugs. “we have an open relationship. with snow.”

Sans winks at something behind you, and you realize belatedly it’s Frisk, signing something along the lines of _feelings, OK?_

Sans replies, “don’t worry. i won’t. scout’s honor.”

“I think I will just… leave,” says Asgore, sighing.

“Oh, no, you’re not,” you say, grabbing Asgore by the arm and pulling on him until he sighs and goes outside to join Toriel.

Frisk turns to you and signs, _Let’s go!_

“Just a second,” you say, turning around and realizing that Sans has already disappeared. Now the only ones left is… Asriel.

Asriel is staring out the door. There’s a weird, distant, even _blank_ look in his eyes, like he’s not entirely present. You know that look. You _dread_ that look, because you know exactly what he’s thinking whenever he has it.

You immediately rush over to him and take his paw in your mittened hand. He remains stiff as a board, not responding to your touch, not squeezing your hand back.

Frisk joins you too. They take his other paw, then lean up and kiss him on the cheek. Still no response.

“Ree,” you say, as soothingly as you can manage. “Come outside with me. We can have a snowball fight, a real one, like we used to. You can pretend you’re murdering everyone, but… with snowballs.”

Frisk shoots you a look.

“What?” you say. “He needs to let out some steam. It’s good for him.”

Frisk lets go of his paw and signs, _I don’t know if encouraging murder is a good idea…_

You roll your eyes. “Come on, Frisk. It’s not _real_ murder.”

Abruptly, Asriel starts moving again. He squeezes your hand, although thanks to the mitten, you can’t feel any warmth from it.

“You alright?” you say.

 _Are you OK, Asriel?_ Frisk signs.

“I’m fine,” Asriel says, smiling softly, although you can tell it’s forced. Knowing Frisk, they can tell too. “Let’s just go have fun.”

“We’ll walk with you,” you offer, squeezing his paw.

Asriel hesitates for a moment, looking back and forth between you and Frisk. Frisk beams up at him.

“OK,” he says, and the three of you start to walk off outside together, hand in paw in hand.

Once you’re out in the snow, you look out at everyone having fun and smile. Alphys, Undyne, and Monster Kid have started building a snowmonster. Sans and Toriel are telling jokes to each other and laughing. Asgore looks, as usual, to be playing the role of “sad dad” - you’ll have to do something about that.

So you bend down and gather a snowball in one hand. Asriel, getting the message, bends down and gathers a snowball in their hand.

You give Asgore no warning before you pelt the snowball at his head. He doesn’t recoil at all as the snowball explodes against the side of his head, but he turns towards you, only to get a snowball in the face from Asriel.

“ _Snowball fight!_ ” you scream.

Asgore wipes the snowball from Asriel off his face and smiles proudly. “Ohoho, a snowball fight? I was a snowball fighting champion in The Great Snowdin Wars, you know.”

“There’s no such thing!” you shout.

“NGAAAAH! Don’t call Asgore a liar, punk!” shouts Undyne, gathering a snowball in her hand and throwing it at you. She throws like a pitching machine - you have no time to duck or react before the snowball crashes into your head, knocking you to your feet.

“Chara, are you alright?” says Toriel, but you laugh.

“Never…” you say, gathering snow into your hand and throwing a ball back at her. “ _Better!”_

And, in mere seconds, dozens of snowballs are being launched back and forth.

* * *

You don’t know how long the snowball fight goes on for before it’s become its own reenactment of “The Great Snowdin Wars.” Fortifications have been built. Trenches have been dug. Somehow, barbed wire has been placed in the No Man’s Land between your two encampments, and you’ve replaced your woolen beanies with military helmets.

Well, most of you have. Toriel and Sans are laughing amongst each other and drinking hot chocolate on the porch, and Frisk is a conscientious objector and has not joined either your side (with Asriel, yourself, and Papyrus) or Undyne’s side (with her, Alphys, and Asgore). Even though your numbers are technically even, Undyne practically counts for ten women and Asgore for ten men, so you’re still _significantly_ outgunned.

“Frisk! You have to help us!” you shout. “Or we’ll all perish! You don’t want that on your conscience, do you?!”

Frisk continues building their own snow human, which looks suspiciously like them. They shake their head “no.” Monster Kid, meanwhile, builds a rough approximation of a snow Monster Kid, rolling up snowballs with their face - unfortunately, they couldn’t play in a snowball fight, on account of their lack of arms.

“We don’t need their help, Chara,” says Asriel, and you turn to him, interested. “I have an idea.”

“I SEE ONLY GOOD THINGS FROM THIS,” says Papyrus.

“We’ll unleash my Ultimate Attack: Omega Snow Buster!”

Papyrus looks impressed already, slapping his hands over his cheek bones and gasping, but you stifle a laugh. “What?”

“Papyrus, use your powers to make the snowballs float!” Asriel says, sounding more excited than you’ve heard him in a long time. “Then, while they’re distracted, Chara and I will sneak around opposite sides and hit them with all we’ve got!”

You nod. “Roger that.”

Papyrus salutes. “AYE AYE, SIR!”

The three of you start making snowballs for Papyrus to use. After a few minutes, Papyrus starts to make the snowballs levitate, and you and Asriel sneak off on opposite sides to ambush them.

“PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR OUR ULTIMATE ATTACK!” he says. “NYEH HEH HEH!”

“W-wait!” Alphys shouts. “M-magic is a-against the rules!”

“There are rules?” says Asgore.

“There are NO rules!” shouts Undyne. “Prepare yourselves for MY Ultimate Attack: I Throw A Really Big Snowball At Your Face!”

You look over from where you’re standing to see Undyne gathering a huge amount of snow, an entire boulder’s worth. She easily hefts it up and, to your horror, throws it straight at Papyrus - Papyrus attempts to “throw” his snowballs at it, but it’s no use. The snowboulder simply destroys all the snowballs in its way, and then destroys Papyrus, knocking his torso off his legs.

Papyrus’s upper body shoots a thumbs up. “I AM OK!”

But, while all that was happening, you’ve already snuck up around Undyne’s fortifications, and Asriel is standing on the other side of you. You both have two snowballs in each hand.

“ _Now, Asriel!”_ you shout.

“OMEGA SNOW BUSTER!” Asriel screams, and he starts launching snowballs at a surprised Undyne, Asgore, and Alphys. You immediately join in. Alphys screams and covers her head in her hands, Undyne lets out a surprised “What?!” as she’s covered in snowballs from head to toe, and Asgore acts as if he’s dying, clutching his chest and falling over onto his back.

“We won!” you declare. “100,000 XP and 0 Gold!”

* * *

“wow,” says Sans as you all head back inside, once you’ve reassembled Papyrus. “100,000 XP… i didn’t even know someone could BE that evil. i’m impressed.”

You wipe snow off yourself and shoot him a glare.

“that’s 40 LV,” he says. “LV, of course, stands for... Level of Volley-ence.”

“Sans,” you say, exasperated. “It was a _snowball fight._ ”

* * *

The thing about going out in the snow is that it almost doesn’t matter how many mittens, scarves, and coats you have. You’re _still_ going to be freezing cold. If your robot body had a heads-up display (which would be extremely cool and you should definitely ask Alphys about giving you one), you’re sure it would have been warning you about unsafe external temperatures.

Fortunately, there are solutions to that problem: a towel to get all the snow off you, a fireplace to sit in front of, a blanket to sit under, and one more you’re greatly looking forward to: hot chocolate. Toriel already bought supplies for just this purpose, and the owner of the ryokan (a heavyset polar bear monster in a blue kimono) graciously allowed her to use her kitchen to make some.

You sit in front of the fireplace in your room with Frisk and Asriel, all three of you in fresh kimonos and covered in a single large blanket, and try not to fidget. Toriel enters the room and takes your hot chocolate to you.

“Be careful, my child,” she says as she hands it to you. You look into the cup - plenty of marshmallows and a ton of chocolate, just as you like it. Not that you’d expect anything else from Toriel. “It is still very warm. Please be sure to not burn yourself.”

“I won’t,” you say, sincerely. It’s not _that_ hot, you think. Certainly not enough to burn you - Toriel must have been careful about getting the temperature just right. “Thank you for the hot chocolate.”

Next, Asriel gets his, even though you’re pretty sure that he doesn’t actually need it, what with all that fur he has. But you’re certainly not going to deny him the butterscotch-cinnamon flavored hot chocolate he likes so much. He says, perhaps a little overly cheerily, “Thanks, Mom!”

Frisk takes theirs as well, very gently, letting out a sigh of relief when they aren’t burned. They say, in their very soft voice, “Thank you.”

“Wait,” you say as you see Asriel raise the mug to his lips, and Frisk and Asriel look at you. Asriel looks mildly annoyed, while Frisk just stares at you.

“A toast,” you say, lifting your mug towards Asriel, who is between you and Frisk. “To our relationship.”

“Our _relationship?”_ hisses Asriel, and you see Toriel take that moment to walk away and give you some privacy. Thank goodness she knows when to do that.

She is smiling though. She probably thinks it’s adorable.

You smile widely once Toriel is out of earshot. “Yes. To my boyfriend, Asriel, and to my datefriend, Frisk. We are excellent partners… we deserve only the best in all things.”

Asriel’s face turns crimson, somehow. He looks down into his mug sheepishly. “Don’t tease me like that.”

“Who says I’m teasing?” you say, your smile becoming softer. You put your hot chocolate on the floor and take his free paw, squeezing it gently. You feel somewhat ashamed of yourself, which is relatively rare for you these days. Perhaps you shouldn’t have said that he was your boyfriend just yet - you’ve called him that before and he gets so worked up about the idea. “I’m sorry, Ree. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Do you… want me to be your boy… boyfriend?” says Asriel quietly, looking up at you in a way that suggests he had to dare himself to do it.

“Absolutely,” you say. “I want nothing more in all the world.”

“And Frisk?” says Asriel. “You want them to be your, uh, your… whatever you said... too?”

“Datefriend,” you supply. “And yes. I want us all to be together. All three of us.”

Asriel quietly stirs his mug of hot chocolate, spinning it around in his paw. “I don’t know if I want to be datefriends with Frisk yet.” He looks to Frisk, his shoulders hunching with sudden anxiety. “Um! I mean, um, no offense, Frisk? Sorry!”

Quietly, Frisk says, “I’m not offended.” That doesn’t surprise you - Frisk is rarely offended by anything that doesn’t end in -ism or -phobia.

“That’s fine,” you say. “You don’t ever have to be datefriends with Frisk if you don’t want to be. And you don’t have to be my boyfriend either. Not until you’re ready.”

“OK,” Asriel says softly, squeezing your hand with his free paw. “Well, I… I don’t think I’m ready for that either yet.” He frowns deeply, probably feeling just as disappointed with himself as you feel to hear him say that. “I’m sorry. It’s just… a lot.”

While you are disappointed, you try not to let it show or be petulant about it. These things take time, and while you’re technically over a thousand years old, you are physically and mentally still kids. “Thank you for your honesty, Ree.” You turn to Frisk. “And what about you, Frisk? You’ve been quiet.”

Quieter than usual, in fact.

“I don’t know either,” they say, frowning. And you feel an ache in your synthetic heart, an ache of sympathy for them. They’ve always struggled with making their own decisions - they relied on you, for everything, even after you were separated and placed into this shell of a body. Even their decision on whether to be the ambassador or return to their home was… well, not _yours_ exactly, but certainly not _theirs._

“That’s alright,” you say. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

Frisk smiles at you.

“Then forget the toast to our relationship,” you say. “Let us instead toast our _friendship._ For you are all, undeniably, my greatest of friends, my rafts, my anchors, my... _”_

“OK, Chara, we get it,” says Asriel, and you snort out a laugh. He smiles. Frisk smiles too.

And you pick up your mug again and lift it towards Asriel. Asriel lifts his, and Frisk lifts theirs towards his.

“To our friendship!” you say.

“To our friendship!” says Asriel loudly.

“To our friendship,” says Frisk.

The three of you clank your mugs together, spilling some hot chocolate on the floor. Oh well. You’ll clean it up later. Or get Asriel to do it.

With that, you take your mug of hot chocolate and raise it to your lips, not even remotely caring if you get burned or not. Your throat isn’t a real throat made of real flesh anyway, and neither is your tongue - they’re just simulacrums. You no longer feel like a real human being but rather like some kind of complex doll, which is, honestly, perfectly fine with you.

Fortunately, Alphys gave you and Asriel the ability to taste. And _good_ _God_ , which you think despite the fact that you’ve been raised most of your life not to take His name in vain (a rule you’ve mostly ignored), does it taste incredible. Toriel’s hot chocolate, like everything she makes, is nothing less than divinity itself.

You let out a pleased hum, and Asriel takes a sip of his before letting out a sigh. Frisk just smiles.

Only five minutes later, you’ve finished your hot chocolate, and you do the only thing that feels appropriate - you nuzzle up to Asriel, resting your head against his furry cheek. He blushes, of course, because he always blushes when you cuddle him and always has.

“So… not to push the issue,” you say, very quietly, "but do you think... one day, you might...?"

You’re not so secretly dreading his answer, but Asriel immediately says, “Yes. One day.” He sounds as sure as he’s sounded of anything in a long time.

“Then this little vacation… this journey… I’d say this is our first date, wouldn't you?”

Asriel blushes deeper and focuses on drinking his hot chocolate. You laugh softly.

“Too far?”

“No,” Asriel says, once he’s stopped drinking his hot chocolate. “I like that.”

And you smile. Frisk leans against Asriel too, nuzzling their cheek against Asriel’s. They set down their mug of hot chocolate and reach across to take Asriel’s paw, and Asriel squeezes your hand too.

Now you’re all holding hands, you think. It feels so warm, warmer than it should feel, warmer than the hot chocolate or the fireplace or anything.

You’re so grateful to them both.

* * *

That night, you take a nice warm bath with Frisk and Asriel to get rid of the last remainders of the cold. One would think none of you would think there’s anything strange about bathing together, and that you’d be confused if anyone thought there was something strange about it. After all, you and Frisk have lived in Japan practically your entire lives, where bathing with others is common, even expected. And Asriel and you have been bathing together since… well, over a thousand years ago, give or take.

Yet, whenever you get in a bath together these days, you end up blushing more than normal, and Asriel gets finicky and embarrassed. You can’t even tease him about it, because you feel the same way he does - that bathing with your maybe-future-boyfriend and your maybe-future-datefriend is somehow a step too far, that you shouldn’t see each other naked before you’re married or whatever the fuck. It makes absolutely no sense.

Frisk, of course, doesn’t care a lick. They don’t have a bone of shame in their body, it feels like.

Frisk interrupts you from your thoughts by splashing you and Asriel with the very hot water.

“Ow,” says Asriel.

“GRAAAAAAAH!” you scream, lifting your hands to your face. “The water! It’s so hot! It burns!”

Frisk giggles and you smile at them. Asriel looks annoyed, again.

“Are you mocking me?” he says.

“Why, no, I would never,” you say brightly.

“That’s it,” says Asriel, abruptly standing up out of the water and turning towards you. “I’m going to kill you.”

Frisk gasps as Asriel starts marching through the water towards you, so much water dripping off his fur that he looks like a chubby cat who accidentally fell into a tub. In spite of the fact that his body is covered in fur and there’s nothing to see, you politely keep your eyes trained on his face as he reaches out to mock-strangle you.

But then he’s actually right in front of you, as naked as the day he was… born? Hatched? Whatever. The point is you’re both naked, and inches from each other, and you can’t help but blush deeply.

You get no time to protest or tease him or anything before Asriel’s paws are on your neck, and you laugh because this is all so ridiculous.

And then you stop laughing because he’s squeezing too hard and it actually _hurts_ and he has that weird, distant look in his eyes that you know all too well and _he’s really going to kill you._

You wrench at his arms, panicked, but you have no strength compared to him. Asriel is growing, and he’s bigger than you, even bigger than you than he used to be. His arms are like the machine he is, and his paws are like a vice grip on your neck.

Just as your vision starts to blacken and your eyes start to roll back, Frisk appears. They grab Asriel’s arm firmly, and Asriel _glares_ at them.

“Asriel,” says Frisk. “Stop. This isn’t you. You’re not Flowey anymore.”

At those words, Asriel lets out a vicious snarl, a sound you’ve never heard from him before, and you’re going to die now, you know it. Toriel is going to find your body and Asriel is going to wake up from this trance feeling guilt you can’t even imagine, guilt he’ll feel for the rest of his possibly eternal life, and those things are so much worse than actually dying again would be.

But, instead, tears start to roll down his cheeks. He’s crying, and suddenly, abruptly, he lets go of your neck. You take a sharp breath, clutching your chest, your artificial heart beating like a drum. Asriel backs away from you, raising a paw to his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he says, sobbing. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Frisk immediately gathers Asriel in a hug.

You cough. In spite of your pounding heart, how close you just were to death, you say, “It’s not your fault, Ree. It’s not your fault.”

“It is! It _is_ my fault!” Asriel shouts, still crying. “I’m sick, I’m sick and evil and I just hurt people, Chara! Flowey is _still me!_ ”

“No,” you say, staring him down. “You’re my” - _future boyfriend -_ “best friend, Ree. You’re not Flowey. I love you, and nothing is going to change that, and we’re going to fix this. We’re going to help you get better.” You realize you’re crying too. Damn it. “So shut up, alright?”

Frisk pats Asriel’s back as he buries his face in their shoulder and continues to cry. They help him sit down in the shallow water, and you carefully join them, rubbing Asriel’s back too.

You sit there awkwardly until both you and Asriel have stopped crying, and then the three of you silently decide to end your bath early. You gather towels from the side of the bath, wrap them around your waists, and walk out of the bathroom.

Toriel is there. She’s smiling brightly, at first, but then she sees the tears on your and Asriel’s cheeks and the bruises that are no doubt on your neck and her smile fades.

“It’s… it’s OK, Mom,” Asriel says, putting on a weak smile, but Toriel is never really fooled by those. She rapidly strides forward and wraps the three of you in a tight hug.

Asriel starts crying all over again.

“I’m sick, Mom. I’m really sick…”

“Tell me what happened,” Toriel says soothingly, stepping away from the hug to put a hand on his shoulder.

And Asriel explains. You frown and look away as he tells her that he tried to kill you, as he once again compares himself to that _thing_ he used to be when he had no soul of his own. He sounds just as ashamed of himself as he did the first time he explained to Toriel, as Flowey, that the cruel, capricious creature in front of her was actually her son.

“You are not sick, dearest one,” Toriel says, gently looking into Asriel’s eyes. “You are hurt. And that is why we are going to help you heal. You are going to get better. You do not want to hurt people, and your family, your friends, they will work to ensure that you never hurt anyone again.”

You’re not sure he believes what she’s saying, based on the way he’s looking down at the floor, but Asriel nods. “Thank you, Mom.”

“Now, dearest one, you should get some rest. I know: how do you feel about staying in my bed tonight? M.K. is already in my bed, but you would feel better if your loving mother was there to keep you safe, would you not?”

Asriel shakes his head. “I still want to sleep with Frisk and Chara.”

You look at him like he’s grown a second head. You don’t _mind_ the idea, and if you didn’t trust him not to strangle you in your sleep, you wouldn’t share a bed together, but you’re very surprised he’d still want to.

“Are you sure, Asriel?” you say.

“I’m sure,” he says. “I feel safer there.”

You let out a sigh of relief. You don’t really want to sleep with just Frisk, to tell the truth. Being with Asriel is like comfort food for you - warm and familiar, a reminder of happier times.

Frisk smiles at him. You think they seem relieved too. Maybe sleeping with just you reminds them of when you were some kind of unsleeping revenant haunting their thoughts.

“Then let’s go,” you say.

And, with that, you say good night to Toriel, get changed into your pajamas, and climb back into your futon. In spite of what just happened, you’re still ready to sleep, to make tomorrow come.

But Asriel, you notice… Asriel doesn’t sleep at all.

You notice that because you don’t sleep at all either.

* * *

Thankfully, it doesn’t snow the next day, because if it did, it wouldn’t be safe to climb Mount Yotei. And climbing Mount Yotei is the whole reason you all travelled all the way to Hokkaido.

After all, according to Alphys’ ~~dragon radar~~ Soul Detector, there is an anomaly on Mt. Yotei. She’s convinced it’s one of the six souls, long lost after the breaking of the barrier, regathering its strength.

If she can find it, she can give it a new body. She can communicate with it and revive whatever unfortunate child was killed. Just like she did with you.

So you climb. You climb and climb and climb. Monster Kid runs ahead like this is a fun field trip but then tires themself out and has to be carried over Toriel’s shoulder. Undyne and Papyrus cheer you on and keep you motivated. Sans doesn’t even seem to move as he just appears next to Toriel. Asgore jogs as if to show off his great strength and endurance. Alphys watches the Soul Detector like a hawk.

Asriel and Frisk try to stay close to you, the three of you walking at the front of the group so that you’ll be the first to find the soul, but you stay decidedly behind... away from Asriel. You love Asriel - you _love_ Asriel - but there’s something about you that’s kind of still frightened by him, just a bit. He could easily push you off this mountain and send you tumbling to your death, and it wouldn’t even be his fault.

Frisk frowns at you when you stay behind them, but you’re sure on some level, they must understand what you’re feeling. You did almost get strangled to death just yesterday - you can still feel the bruises on your neck from Asriel’s paws.

But, nonetheless, you climb. After all, you have to be the one to find the soul, alongside Asriel and Frisk. Only you three have spoken to the souls before, in various ways, and only you have been a soul yourself - the soul would only trust the three of you.

Eventually, after a long, exhausting journey, you reach the highest outcropping on Mount Yotei, covered in snow.

And there, on the edge of the outcropping, near the peak, is a light blue soul. You might even say it seems to be waiting patiently.

You smile a huge smile at Asriel and Frisk, trying not to cheer and startle it.

Alphys says, in disbelief but also pride, “I-it’s the soul. It’s really here.”

You take Asriel’s paw and Frisk’s hand and begin to approach it, very slowly and very gently. Sweat rolls down your brow as you come closer. This is an important moment, and you don’t want to ruin it, or worse, frighten the soul away.

You try to speak, to say “Can you hear my voice?”, but before you can, you hear a voice in your head. Frisk must hear it too, because they look momentarily startled, just a bit. Asriel gulps, so he must have heard it as well.

The voice says, in a voice as soft as a feather, “Hello. I’ve been waiting for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Ivy and [Willow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMX004_Qubeley/pseuds/AMX004_Qubeley) for betaing this fic!


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